Sunday, August 05, 2007

Well, I stayed up all night at JFK on... Friday, I guess it would have been. Oh, I micro-napped some, but mostly just stayed awake. Finally, I was able to get on the standby morning flight to Dubai, that was a long 13 hours. I mostly stayed awake, probably total of 2 hours of sleep. Read some, watched 3 movies (Stranger than Fiction [Very Good], Shooter [Decent], TMNT [Hey, I only had 2 hours left, and needed a short movie] Tried to figure out what how to get where in Dubai, was able to finally find the transfer desk from terminal 1 (Crowded Duty-Free, international terminal) to terminal 2 [Quiet, 'regional' terminal]. Got luggage supposedly transferred, took shuttle over to other terminal.

When I got into the gate at the second terminal for Kam Air to Kabul, I looked confused on what to do next, since I thought they told me they were boarding the plane, and lots of people were just sitting there. I looked really confused, I'm sure, and a nice young Caucasian woman helped me out. I was really glad, because I would have tried to board a plane when there was no plane, since you just hang out until everyone gets up to go to the bus to get on the plane. Weird. Anyway, I was further really glad when she asked me if it was my first time in Kabul, and then what I was doing there. As it so happens, she is a teacher for the school! That really occurred well for both of us, as it was good for her to have a trustworthy male nearby, and good for me since then I had some kind of guidance. Anyway, I'm at the school now, it's 5:30 P.M., and my plan is to try to stay up for another 3-4 hours, so then I might be on real Kabul time, or close to it. I don't know if that's going to happen.

Other little tidbits -

I was on the flight from Cinci to JFK with a couple that was also heading to Dubai, so we ran through the airport together, and tried to get on the standby list for the next flight. Then, on the flight, I was supposed to sit by the husband, but I swapped with him and his wife so they could sit together.

I have no checked luggage. I am trying to figure out if it even made it to Dubai, which it supposedly did. Fortunately, if it did get to Dubai, it should get to Kabul, and there are lots more people that are going to be getting picked up at the airport, so we should be able to get it.

Kabul is a very pedestrian, very crazy traffic city. I'm glad I don't have to drive.

I speak no Dari or Pashtun. This will be interesting.

All I can think of for now. First post from Kabul, first post from out of U.S. soil!

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About Me

Hi - I'm your erstwhile blog authorial figure.

I was in the 'Stan, starting in August 2007 until the call to change came, working as the IT Coordinator for a school. Now I am back in the U.S. with my beautiful wife, and we are figuring out life together. Sometime we are hoping to go back overseas, we just have to wait for the call for when.